Morning Brief

1. OPPO Find X9 Ultra officially unveiled
2. Beats releases Solo 4 JENNIE Special Edition and a 3-meter USB-C cable
3. ChatGPT Images 2.0 launched by OpenAI
4. CATL introduces Shenxing fast-charging and multiple new power batteries
5. GitHub Copilot adjusts individual subscription plans
6. Amazon invests an additional $5 billion in Anthropic and secures computing capacity supply
7. Microsoft lowers pricing for some Xbox Game Pass plans
8. News Worth a Quick Look

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OPPO Find X9 Ultra officially unveiled

On April 21, OPPO unveiled the OPPO Find X9 Ultra, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Elite mobile platform, paired with LPDDR5X memory and UFS 4.1 storage. It features a 6.82-inch QHD+ flat display with a resolution of 3168×1440, supporting up to a 144Hz refresh rate, with 800 nits typical brightness and 1800 nits peak brightness. The camera system includes a 200MP wide-angle lens, 50MP ultra-wide lens, 200MP telephoto lens, and 50MP periscope telephoto lens, along with a 50MP front-facing camera. It is equipped with a 7050mAh battery, supporting 100W wired fast charging and 50W wireless charging. The device comes in three color options—Velvet Canyon, Polar Glacier, and Earth Tundra—with pricing starting at RMB 7,499 (12+256GB). Source

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Beats releases Solo 4 JENNIE Special Edition and a 3-meter USB-C cable

On April 21, Beats introduced the Onyx Black JENNIE Special Edition Beats Solo 4. The product features a minimalist monochrome design, includes two detachable black bow accessories, and has a custom music note engraving on one UltraPlush ear cushion, along with a matching carrying case. It will go on sale at 9 AM on April 24, priced at RMB 1,799, available via Apple.com and the Beats official store on JD.com. Source

At the same time, Beats also announced a new addition to its accessories lineup: a 3-meter USB-C to USB-C cable. It features a tangle-free braided design with reinforced internals, supports up to 240W charging, and can handle data transfer, audio output, and CarPlay connectivity. The cable is compatible with USB-C devices across both Apple and Android ecosystems, and comes in four colors: Bolt Black, Surge Gray, Speed Blue, and Rush Red. It is now available in over 50 countries and regions worldwide, with orders open via apple.com.cn at a price of RMB 229. Source

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ChatGPT Images 2.0 launched by OpenAI

On April 21, OpenAI released the ChatGPT Images 2.0 model along with the gpt-image-2 API. The model brings significant improvements in instruction following, visual composition, and text rendering. It supports multilingual text generation, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, and Bengali. Supported aspect ratios range from 3:1 to 1:3, with up to 2K resolution available via the API. The model’s knowledge cutoff is December 2025. When “thinking” mode is enabled, it can perform web searches and includes self-verification capabilities, and can generate up to 8 coherent images in a single request.

The model is now available to all ChatGPT and Codex users, while advanced outputs with “thinking” capabilities are limited to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Business subscribers. The gpt-image-2 API is also live, with pricing depending on selected image quality and resolution. Source

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CATL introduces Shenxing fast-charging and multiple new power batteries

On April 21, CATL announced its third-generation Shenxing supercharging battery, third-generation Qilin battery, and an integrated charging-and-swapping energy solution. The new Shenxing battery supports up to 10C equivalent and peak 15C ultra-fast charging, reaching full charge in just 6 minutes under standard conditions. The third-generation Qilin battery achieves an energy density of 280Wh/kg and supports up to 1,000 km range, featuring thermal-electric separation safety technology. The lineup also includes the Qilin condensed-state battery, second-generation Xiaoyao hybrid battery, and sodium-ion batteries, with the latter scheduled for mass production in Q4 2026. By the end of 2026, CATL plans to build 4,000 integrated charging and swapping stations for passenger vehicles and heavy trucks, enabling flexible charging, battery swapping, and on-demand power distribution. Source

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GitHub Copilot adjusts individual subscription plans

On April 20, GitHub Copilot announced adjustments to its individual subscription plans. Effective immediately, new user sign-ups for Pro, Pro+, and Student plans are suspended. The usage limits for the Pro+ plan have been increased to more than five times that of the Pro plan, with specific limits viewable in real time via VS Code and Copilot CLI. In terms of model access, the Pro plan will no longer support the Opus series models, while the Pro+ plan will retain only Opus 4.7, removing Opus 4.5 and Opus 4.6. Affected users may cancel their subscriptions via the billing settings page before May 20 and request a refund corresponding to the remaining subscription period. Source

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Amazon invests an additional $5 billion in Anthropic and secures computing capacity supply

On April 21, Amazon announced an additional $5 billion investment in Anthropic and signed a long-term compute supply agreement. This round brings Amazon’s total direct investment in Anthropic to $13 billion. Under the agreement, Amazon may invest an additional $20 billion if certain business milestones are achieved. Anthropic plans to spend over $100 billion on Amazon Web Services over the next decade to procure custom AI chips, including Graviton, Trainium2, and Trainium4, addressing infrastructure demands driven by the growth of Claude users. The two companies aim to deliver 1 gigawatt of compute capacity by the end of 2026, with a long-term supply cap of 5 gigawatts. Source

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Microsoft lowers pricing for some Xbox Game Pass plans

On April 22, Microsoft announced price reductions for certain Xbox Game Pass plans. The monthly fee for Game Pass Ultimate will drop from $29.99 to $22.99, while the PC Game Pass subscription will decrease from $16.49 to $13.99. At the same time, starting in 2026, future installments of the Call of Duty series will no longer be included in Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch. Instead, they will be added during the following holiday season (approximately one year later). Existing Call of Duty titles already in the library will remain unaffected. Source

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News Worth a Quick Look

• OpenAI has rolled out a Chronicle research preview feature for the macOS version of Codex, available to Pro subscribers. This feature uses background agents to periodically capture screen content and generate a local memory base, enhancing the model’s contextual understanding of the current task environment—such as on-screen error messages, open documents, and past workflows. The stored memory can be reviewed and edited by users. Due to its background operation, enabling the feature may increase rate limit consumption. It is now available to Pro subscribers. Source
• Google Labs has open-sourced the DESIGN.md specification from its Stitch platform. This format provides AI agents with a unified, machine-readable design guideline—including brand colors, typography rules, component styles, layout logic, and interaction patterns—allowing AI to generate UI across projects while maintaining consistency with brand design standards. Source